I watched bits and pieces of the Mets’ defeat to the Cardinals last night, and I watched Mike Baxter strike out looking to end the game. It was a 10-pitch at-bat, with Baxter fouling off four two-strike pitches, and strike three was probably ball four. It looked low on TV.

The 2013 Mets’ problems run far deeper than the usage of Mike Baxter, all the more so if Zack Wheeler’s injury concern is a real issue – and for crying out loud, as Mike Vaccaro points out, Terry Collins has to avoid the sort of meltdown that characterized the last time he lost his MLB managing job with the Angels in 1999.

But for a team that is desperately trying to score runs, that badly needs more offense from its outfield, why not get more regular plate appearances for the guy with a .370 on-base percentage, not to mention the guy whose walkoff singles produced the last two Mets victories?

It stands out that the two Mets who get on base, Baxter and Lucas Duda (.361 OBP) do so largely via the base on balls; Baxter has a .250 batting average and Duda .213. But the Mets are in no position to be choosy. Let these two guys work the count _ at least, against righty pitchers _ and keep the line moving, and hope that leads to the pitcher making a mistake against the many easy outs in the Mets’ lineup.

This might amount to a hill of beans in what is looking like a particularly ugly Mets season; Good Lord, have the starting pitchers besides Matt Harvey been awful. But why not maximize your chances to win?

–Milwaukee shortstop Jean Segura is making an early run to play in the All-Star Game at Citi Field. The Brewers, teetering beneath .500, would be even worse without their young shortstop.

I wonder, too, whether Segura will serve as a human reminder come this trade deadline and beyond.

The current collective bargaining agreement disallows clubs from making a qualifying offer to free agents they acquired during the just-completed season. That meant that, last November, the Angels couldn’t offer Zack Greinke a one-year, $13.3-million contract and – consequently – gained no compensation for losing Greinke to the Dodgers, because the Angels picked up Greinke from Milwaukee in a July 2012 trade.

Under the pre-2012 rules, a team could acquire a player in his walk year knowing that it would at least get something on the back end _ two draft picks _ if the player turned down an arbitration offer and went elsewhere. For instance, that factored into Texas’ thinking when the Rangers acquired Cliff Lee from Seattle in 2010. The same when Milwaukee got CC Sabathia from Cleveland in 2008.

Now, though, if you can’t re-sign a player for whom you traded mid-season, then you’re tapped out. So the Angels gave up Segura, who sure looks like a franchise shortstop, for 13 starts from Greinke, zero in the postseason since the Angels fell short.

The other high-profile players traded in their walk year _ Ryan Dempster (from the Cubs to Texas) and Shane Victorino (from Philadelphia to the Dodgers) stand out _ didn’t get anything very interesting in their returs. The Rangers and Dodgers didn’t sweat the prices they paid, nor the ramifications of not retaining the respective players.

Similar to Segura-Greinke, Wheeler became a Met in 2011 when the Giants dealt the right-hander for Carlos Beltran, even though Beltran had a clause in his contract that forbade his club of employment from offering him arbitration. Beltran and San Francisco missed the playoffs in ’11, just as Greinke of LA of A did last year, and now the Mets are hoping that Wheeler will be a franchise pillar.

There’s plenty to be said for rolling the dice on a World Series berth and for not overvaluing prospects. But it was easier to say that under the old rules, when you essentially received a chance (through the compensatory draft picks) to replace some of the young talent you just dealt away.

At this point, it doesn’t look like there will be a Greinke equivalent available on the market. The best impending free agent to be traded could be the Cubs’ Matt Garza, assuming he gets healthy and makes some starts, and no one is giving up a prospect of Segura’s caliber for Garza.

The trade canvas could change by July. But whether it’s this year, next year or further down the line, I’m expecting Segura’s name to be invoked as a sign of caution for clubs contemplating the acquisition of a player headed towards free agency.

–Remember when the Red Sox thumped the Yankees in the first two games of the season, and when John Farrell’s bunch jumped out to a 20-8 start? All the talk of the resurgent Red Sox?

Well, after last night’s loss in Tampa Bay, the Red Sox are now 22-17. They’re four games ahead of where they were a year ago. They’re three games behind the Yankees in the American League East. David Ortiz is hurting.

They’re still right in the thick of it, for now. Just consider this a simple reminder to not get too caught up over April results.